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Nomura's wholesale division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has enjoyed its strongest quarter since the acquisition of Lehman Brothers' operations in the region.

The Japanese bank this morning published results for the final three months of 2012 – its fiscal third quarter – with the wholesale division posting revenues of ¥189bn (€1.5bn), up 38% quarter-on-quarter and 8% year-on-year.

Pre-tax profit at the division, which comprises Nomura's global markets and investment banking operations, was ¥44.4bn for the period. This figure vastly outstripped the ¥200m pre-tax profit in the previous quarter and was also up 20% on a year ago.

The strong performance was led by Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where revenues reached ¥72.5bn, up 64% quarter-on-quarter, and the highest three-month amount since Nomura bought Lehman Brothers' European and Asian businesses in September 2008.

The regional performance was boosted by the sale of an investment in residential property owner Annington; Nomura earned ¥16bn when Terra Firma, the UK private equity firm owned by ex-Nomura employee Guy Hands, bought it last November.

However, even with proceeds from the Annington sale stripped out, third-quarter revenues stood at ¥56.5bn – still one of the best quarters since the Lehman Brothers deal.

John Phizackerley, chief executive of Nomura in Emea, told Financial News: "The numbers are aided by Annington, but the underlying performance has been strong. It has been a good quarter for Emea, helped by a combination of strong performance, Annington, and the work we’ve been doing around cutting costs."

The Americas business also delivered strong revenues, up 31% quarter-on-quarter to ¥58.9bn, in what was the best quarter on record for the region.

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Phizackerley said: "The big questions over the past few quarters and years have been about how the wholesale international business is doing. This is a moment to reflect. We are profitable in Europe, we are profitable in America and Asia, and we remain the dominant house in Japan."

Behind the strong performances in Emea and the Americas was a 25% quarter-on-quarter increase in fixed-income revenues globally to ¥110.7bn, the best quarter since 2009. Rates and credit contributed strongly to the Emea business, and securitised products and rates boosted performance in the Americas.

Phizackerley said: "What is pleasing for me is that our fixed-income business is building a broad client franchise across rates, credit and FX. We’ve benefitted from a combination of benign market conditions and some disarray in the competition as a result of legacy issues. We have great technology, great people, strong capital and more clients are trading with us as a result."

Nomura announced in December that it would once again combine fixed-income and equities teams into a global markets unit, appointing Steve Ashley, the previous head of fixed income, as head of global markets. His appointment was seen as reward for the bank's progress in the business.

According to its own submissions to the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, the bank accounted for 2% of fixed-income revenues globally in 2009. This rose to 3.5% in 2011 and 4.3% in the quarter ending on September 30, 2012.

Equities revenues also increased, despite client revenues falling slightly quarter on quarter as a result of sluggish market volume in Europe and the US. Revenues in investment banking increased in every region quarter-on-quarter meanwhile, with the Americas again reporting its best quarter since the buildout of that business.

Compensation and benefits were up slightly, increasing 7% quarter-on-quarter on the back of the increased revenues, though the bank said the run rate declined. The bank announced in September that it would cost $1bn in costs, with 46% of this coming from the Emea operation, and 21% the Americas business.

-- write to matthew.turner@dowjones.com

• This story was updated at 13.40 GMT to correct the spelling of John Phizackerley's name in two instances.